The Seated Liberty dollar was a dollar coin struck by the United States Mint from

1840 to 1873 and designed by its chief engraver, Christian Gobrecht. It was the
last silver coin of that denomination to be struck before passage of the Coinage
Act of 1873, which temporarily ended production of the silver dollar for American
commerce. The coin's obverse is based on that of the Gobrecht dollar, which had
been minted experimentally from 1836 to 1839. However, the soaring eagle used
on the reverse of the Gobrecht dollar was not used; instead, the United States
Mint (Mint) used a heraldic eagle, based on a design by late Mint Chief Engraver
John Reich first utilized on coins in 1807.

Seated Liberty dollars were initially struck only at the Philadelphia Mint; in 1846,
production began at the New Orleans facility. In the late 1840s, the price of silver
increased relative to gold because of an increase in supply of the latter caused by
the California Gold Rush; this led to the hoarding, export, and melting of
American silver coins. The Coinage Act of 1853 decreased the weight of all silver
coins of five cents or higher, except for the dollar, but also required a
supplemental payment from those wishing their bullion struck into dollar coins.
As little silver was being presented to the US Mint at the time, production
remained low. In the final years of the series, there was more silver produced in
the US, and mintages increased.

In 1866, "In God We trust" was added to the dollar following its introduction to
United States coinage earlier in the decade. Seated Liberty dollar production was
halted by the Coinage Act of 1873, which authorized the trade dollar for use in
foreign commerce. Representatives of silver interests were unhappy when the
metal's price dropped again in the mid-1870s; they advocated the resumption of
the free coinage of silver into legal tender, and after the passage of the Bland
Allison Act in 1878, production resumed with the Morgan dollar.